Hefeweizen Sour Tasting

[Mightykyle]

Hello,

I brewed the Northern Brewer extract Bavarian Hefeweizen kit using Omega OYL021 at room temperature ~70 according to thermostat for 8 days. I then racked to the keg, let it cold crash for 12 hours, then force carbed via the shaking method. It is tasting quite sour with very little of the Banana/Clove flavors id come to expect. After doing some research I learned that this is most likely acetaldehyde due to the beer being to new or not cleaned up enough. SG of 1.050 and FG of 0.011. I took the keg out of the fridge at 10 psi to see if I could get the yeast to finish off those bad flavors. Does anyone know if this should fix the issue or is there anything else that can be done?

 

[pocketmon]

No experience with OYL021.
Just brewed a HEFE with WY3068, bottle conditioned for only one week and put all in fridge. Tasted a little sour for the first 2~3 weeks. The sourness disappeared, or almost disappeared after that.
YMMV.

 

[Jag75]

Is it sour or a slight tart. A slight tart can be expected.

 

[Mightykyle]

Its kind of like a sour cidery taste not in a good way. Not like hefeweizens I've had before.

 

[passedpawn]

Hefeweizen yeast often produces sulphur. That's the burnt match smell. That will go away with a bit of time.

Or, maybe you're just tasting lot of yeast? By design, Hefeweizen yeasts are poor flocculators - yeast will stay in suspension longer than others.

Beer right out of the fermentor always tastes a little odd. Best not to judge too harshly until it's carbonated.

Of course, it might have an infection that has caused that flavor. Back when I got started, I had several beers with that acetaldehyde - that's a green apple taste. It NEVER goes away and is awful.

 

[Mightykyle]

This is what I'm worried about :/

I had several beers with that acetaldehyde - that's a green apple taste. It NEVER goes away and is awful.

 

[ebbelwoi]

My guess would be pretty much what your research told you. 8 days probably isn't long enough for the yeast to clean up the acetaldehyde. Taking the keg out seems like the right choice.

 

[Soulshine2]

Ive brewed a few hefs . 5 to be exact. first one was a put together AG from a LHBS,yeast I think was a WB-06 . next 3 were identical AG kits from NB and the last was my own recipe with weihenstephaner yeast. The last one was a tad thin in body and did have a slight tart/sour taste to it. Its not unpleasant. Just not a flavor id expect from a traditional hef. Might be a little oxidation. Might be something else. so, i may go back to the NB grain hef next time i do one , even split the recipe and might use the weihenstephaner on one half and go back to whatever yeast i used on hef #4 and see how they compare side by side.
BTW, 8 days is a bit early. Usually let my beer finish out a full 2 weeks before i bottle.
You used Omega, is that not a Kveik style yeast? Ive read where a lot of those yeast do have an off taste that "traditional" yeasts do not. So that could very well be it.

 

[Beermeister32]

Sour cidery tastes usually mean you picked up some bacteria in the fermenting wort somewhere and the wort is infected. Same thing turns wine into vinegar, etc. The bacteria continues to ferment alongside the yeast which produces acid which you taste as sour.

Let’s hope the batch just needs more time to clean itself up and you didn’t pick up an infection. It really sucks having to dump a batch.

 

[Soulshine2]

Sour cidery tastes usually mean you picked up some bacteria in the fermenting wort somewhere and the wort is infected. Same thing turns wine into vinegar, etc. The bacteria continues to ferment alongside the yeast which produces acid which you taste as sour.

Let’s hope the batch just needs more time to clean itself up and you didn’t pick up an infection. It really sucks having to dump a batch.

oh i know. I have the same sort of issue (not sour ,but) when i do extracts. they always taste the same no matter what the style is, band aids. Ive done red ales and Kolsch and they all taste the same , bad. I've been told its my water but I can do AG just fine with the same exact water and they turn out great, no off flavors whatsoever. Someone told me to use RO or distilled with extracts because they already come with the minerals and such needed. anything more for the (tap) water source would contribute the off taste im getting. sound right to you?

 

[Beermeister32]

Tap water has Chlorine or Chloramine in it for sanitation purposes. I can’t use tap water in my area because of this, our water gets an organic smell at times.

Chlorine and Chloramine in particular causes phenols in your beer. Phenolic beer tastes like what you described.

Chlorine can be removed a LOT easier than Chloramine. For me it just isn’t worth it, I pay 7 bucks for good water down at the supermarket and build my own water profiles.

 

[Beermeister32]

Extract brewing you want to use RO or distilled. Extract already has minerals. If you use tap water you can be making beer with double minerals. Not good for flavor making a mineral sharp beer.

 

[Soulshine2]

Extract brewing you want to use RO or distilled. Extract already has minerals. If you use tap water you can be making beer with double minerals. Not good for flavor making a mineral sharp beer.

ok cool , so that pretty much solidifies what Id been told before. Thanks for the info. I have 8 gallons of RO water I bought to do the next extract . I have 2 on the shelf I was hoping to do and not waste my time. I almost just tossed them because of my past issues of them turning out how they have.
Im surprised the extract instructions dont tell you to just use RO water .

 

[Mightykyle]

I used store bought spring water. I had no idea that extract already came with minerals. May or may not be the problem. To be honest I've only had 1 extract brew turn out perfect. It was the northern brewer Hoegaarden Clone. That is why I used that brand again. I did wait a bit longer for that one because i was on vacation when fermenting